Be warned: access to this Japanesque 10-seater is through suave Cicada Bar, a lush purveyor of precise cocktails that may encourage staying put and skipping dinner. That would be a mistake. Mu’s finely tuned 12-course menu, based on the Japanese omakase tradition and served at a timber-topped counter, delivers an array of small jewels both subtle – glistening swordfish sashimi lifted with fennel and preserved lemon – and robust – a drunken king prawn soaked in Chinese yellow wine, lolling in rich lobster bisque. Rockstar ingredients abound, from deeply marbled wagyu beef to yellowfin tuna and Patagonian toothfish, but striking flavour combinations rightfully hog the spotlight, such as duck udon spiked with smoky lapsang souchong tea, or squid “noodles” seasoned with salty anchovy foam. Throw in excellent service and a deep cut of small-producer sake, and what you get is an omakase that may not adhere to tradition but very much knows how to please.
